Have your favorite bands always been in harmony when creating classic albums? Not even close. Groups have endured lineup shifts, breakups, and fist fights while giving fans the best music ever. Members of The Police hated each other so much while making Synchronicity that they couldn’t record in the same room. Destiny’s Child dropped, added, and again dropped members ahead of Survivor, and a romantic split in No Doubt led to the band’s biggest single.

The third annual Global Citizen Festival took place yesterday (September 27) on the Great Lawn of New York’s Central Park. Huge headliners such as Tiesto, Jay Z, Beyonce and No Doubt brought out a massive crowd that danced the night away for a good cause. Even President Barack Obama made an appearance (via pre-recorded video) to spread awareness on how to fight global poverty and prevent epidemics like ebola and HIV.

Tonight Gwen Stefani debuts as a judge on NBC’s hit-singing competition The Voice, and there’s no doubt the platinum blonde singer knows enough about the music business to mentor young hopefuls. She toiled in indie ska-punk circles and paid her dues before finding success in the late 1990s with No Doubt and has reinvented herself during her solo stint in the aughts. But it’s been a minute since she released any new music and that got us wondering, does Gwen Stefani still rock? The answer is a resounding yes.

Ah, Valentine’s Day…a day to snuggle up to the person you love or to blast your favorite break up song in the hopes of getting over the sweetheart who got away. We know we couldn’t get through our worst splits without the perfect soundtrack, but did our favorite break up songs also help our favorite artists get over their exes? Or were the songs just passed on to them by songwriting pros?

In the past, we’ve uncovered the stories behind such classics as “Yesterday,” “You Oughta Know” and “Someone Like You.” In honor of Valentine’s Day, we did a little more digging on 10 more of the best break up songs of all time to uncover whether ballads like “Nothing Compares 2 U” or empowerment jams like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” came out of Sinead O’Connor and Taylor Swift‘s real pain, or someone else’s studio session magic…

They say what happens on the road stays on the road…but does it ever really? What happens when two major pop stars fall in lust backstage? What happens when two explosive rock stars have a disappointing tryst? What happens when two music legends figure out that their soul mates? We get great gossip and even better music.

The ’90s were a simpler, grungier time where a riot grrl could find love with a Beastie Boy and where the hottest thing a woman could do was sling on a guitar and sing about her feelings. The 10 couples on this list not only made music that defined an era, but their stories defined our early romantic fantasies and gave us intense cautionary tales.

The Immortal Bard once wrote, “If music be the food of love, play on!” but in the cases of these ten amazing bands, love was the fuel behind the music. In each of these 10 bands, at least 2 (if not all) of the bandmates were involved with each other and that off stage romance inspired an amazing song. For some of the couples on our list, their tumultuous break ups inspired classic hit songs, while for others, their true love gave way to sweet, soulful ballads. The course of true love ne’er did run smooth, but it truly inspired these 10 songs.

We’ve all been there. We take a song and love it as our very own. We believe that it came straight from the mind of our favorite artist, expressing their innermost emotions and views. Every note, every chord progression, every lyric is born from their talent. And then comes the fateful day that we learn that the track you adore is actually that most forlorn of musical objects. Yes, that song is…just a cover version.

2012 was the year of the comeback for No Doubt who hadn’t released an album in 11 years. Despite the excitement diehard fans had surrounding Push and Shove‘s release it looks like the group may be having trouble selling out arenas. Read more…